Battle of Krücken 1249
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
About the battle
The Battle of Krücken was a medieval battle fought in 1249 during the Prussian Crusades between the Teutonic Order and Prussians, one of the Baltic tribes. In terms of knights killed, it was the fourth largest defeat of the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century.
Marshal Heinrich Botel gathered men from Kulm, Elbing, and Balga for an expeditionary attack deeper into Prussia. They traveled into the lands of the Natangians and pillaged the region. On their way back, they were in turn attacked by an army of Natangians. The knights retreated to the nearby village of Krücken south of Kreuzburg (now Kamenka south of Slavskoye), where Prussians hesitated to attack. The Prussian army was growing as fresh troops arrived from more distant territories, and the Order did not have enough supplies to withstand a siege. Therefore, the Teutonic Order negotiated a surrender: the marshal and three other knights were to remain as hostages while the others were to lay down their weapons.
The Natangians broke the agreement and massacred 54 knights and a number of their followers. Some knights were executed in religious ceremonies or tortured to death. The severed head of Johann, vice-komtur of Balga, was mockingly displayed on a spear. Others were ransomed or exchanged, including Marshal Botel.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Krücken (revision 1370446360), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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